I started and lo and behold I couldn't finish. I am a relatively new knitter, for me the spinning is the thing and I'm afraid that often knitting takes a second place to it. So, a little bit despondantly I took the pattern, yarn and needles along to the Knit-Wise Knit'n'natter that I attend on a Tuesday night and had a word with Super Knitter Myra who took one look at the pattern, pronounced it a leeetttle bit too adventurous for my capability and in her head immediatley invented an easier version. By the look of the Beekeepers Quilt forum on Ravelry, I'm not on my own in struggling with it, so maybe there will be others who would appreciate this simpler version. We're calling it the Baker's Quilt, little square squidgy loaves of yarn. (or other less twee descriptions)
Whereas the Beekeepers Quilt uses hexagons, this version uses squares. I used yarn spun to 4ply and 4mm DPNs, but if you use larger needles, you get a larger square, depends what you want.
Here's how you do it:
Cast on 10 stitches.
M1 on each stitch, so that you end up with 20 stitches
There are my lovely 20 stitches on my DPNs. The more observant of you will see that my knitting is not the neatest and not the best. Please don't cry, because there is more.
The pattern goes as follows
K1, Yfwd, Sl1, Yback, and repeat
Knit in this manner until you have a square. It should look something like this, although yours could
be so much neater.
At this point, you will need to separate your stitches onto two other DPNs, first stitch on one needle, second on the other, third on the first need etc, until you have 10 stitches on each needle. You should then be able to open the pouch so that it looks like this:
So, now it's time to fill the pouch with a little wadding, so that there will be a comfortable bounce in your finished blanket.
Now it's time to cast off, go through the two stitches together and knit them and then cast off as you normally would.
You should end up with a little filled pouch of wonder like this one (if you're lucky),
My casting off tension is a little bit too tight but people in the know tell me that if I use a larger needle, my problems would be over. Tiny Owl Knits says that one of the best things about knitting this way is that you can knit on the go, and it's absolutely true, its so easy and portable.
I've been able to knit up eleven in quite a short period of time and, surprisingly have got to the point where I can knit and almost follow the plot of Borgen (Danish subtitled political drama). Almost.
It's on its way! And for a novice knitter, I'm quite pleased.
I've taken the information I've written here directly from the Knit-Wise blog (which I also write) as it's Myra's pattern and so deserves to be on there, so that is why it's repeated if you're wondering.
In other spinning news, this yarn has been knitted up into a scarf, I don't know if this picture does it justice but it'll give you an idea.
Ginny knitted this up with some little bobbles at the bottom and a cute hand embroidered edge, which I'm afraid on these photos doesn't really show up. I have, and am wearing this scarf. I really must stop knitting up the wool I intend to sell, but I can't help it - it's too tempting!
speak soon
Cathy
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